Expressing questions

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

I know you can "mix" milk from more than session but for how long i.e. can you keep filling the same tub for say 3 days?

Can you store BM in the fridge and then move to the freezer?

Yesterday I expressed a pile of milk down the sink as was engorged - would there be any point in keeping this as it was v watery foremilk?

Do you have to warm BM or can you feed it cold?

How long can you carry it around out of the fridge for e.g. if you were going out for the day?

What would be the best quantity to store in one container? I have no idea how much DD takes in a feed...

I generally put in an avent via tub and freeze and then add to it in the freezer.

You could feed it cold if your baby will drink it cold! mine would not.

re: foremilk - if you put it in fridge you can see hindmilk on top, so I wouldn't be rushing to chuck it.

I do around 60mls a day and fill them to around 240mls per bottle now. DS is 3 months but an absolute giant so he has a lot.

Never worried about foremilk/hindmilk, it just all gets tipped in together. It is all good and as he only has a bottle every now and again it isn't a big deal.

Probably worth freezing it in small amounts so that when it's defrosted you don't end up wasting a load of hard earned expressed milk if the feed is refused [bitter experience] . Store a couple of ounces at a time (no idea re mls, sorry!). Feed her maybe 4 oz first and then adjust that to how much she will generally take - but of course sometimes she will have more, sometimes less, babies being contrary at times and all

Don't worry about hind/foremilk, it'll all even itself out in the end.

Your baby might drink it cold, mine will do room temperature or thereabouts but won't have it straight from the fridge.

I wouldn't store it for more than a few hours in the fridge if you're going to freeze it.

Thanks for the fast replies

So there is nutritional value in foremilk then? It's just I wasn't going to express properly - just collect bits and pieces when my boob is about to explode seemed such a waste doing it into the sink

The question about how long in the fridge is because e.g. I could collect the drips off one side as I feed off the other and stick it in the fridge. But that would take a lot of repetitions before I had a worthwhile portion - so could I keep a container in the fridge and keep dumping drips into that until I had a portion and then freeze it?

Not particularly planning on feeding EBM at the mo, just seems a waste not to collect it when it is running out of me so copiously , and could freeze it just in case.

There's definitely nutritional value in foremilk - it's lower in fat than hindmilk but everything else is still there, all the other good stuff like antibodies and sugars and so forth.

If the only reason that you're expressing is to releive pressure or stop leaking you may want to consider that expressing will only make this worse as your supply will increase to match the amount you express. Fine if you don't mind expressing, but if you stop pumping then you may find that you stop leaking so much

Current guidelines suggest that you can keep ebm in the fridge for up to a week - it stays fresh as it's full of antibodies which deal with a lot of the nasties that might get into it. I personally wouldn't leave it that long before freezing though - maybe a day at most.

Sorry didn't say properly - will only express wee bit if in genuine pain/dd can't latch on (thankfully rare ) And was going to catch drips that naturally leak when I feed off the otherside. Hence why it may take a while to build up a portion.

Having said that is was really fun expressing was fascinated by the combination of high pressure jet, and rapid dripping so I may have expressed a bit more just to watch it

Am definetly not trying to increae supply

If you remove milk from your breast (either by pumping or feeding the baby) your body will make more milk to replace it.

So if you are wanting to reduce supply you need to try to ride it out so that it knows that it isn't necessary to produce at that time, just express enough to be comfortable. I understand hand expressing is better for this.

I freeze my 60ml, then the next day pour on the next 60ml and pop in freezer.

lol

it's really interesting isn't it?

i have jets of different velocities and direction - hand expressing a nightmare

how old is your baby?

baby 7 weeks so i'm hoping things will settle down in a bit

It is really interesting seeing the milk come out.

My left side is like a sprinkler and there are a couple of milk ducts outside of the nipple (like 1.5cm away from the centre), the left is like a tap, the ducts are all really central and when pumping there is just one thick squirt of milk coming out.

Fascinating and very cool!